In charts | What you need to know about COVID-19 surge right now

India reported more than two lakh new cases of COVID-19 on April 15, highest ever single day spike recorded. Active cases rose to 14.71 lakh mark. Over 11.44 crore vaccinations administered till date.

Chaitanya Mallapur

April 15, 2021 / 10:40 IST

A patient, Shelly Dhingra is tested for coronavirus at Police training school Dwarka, in New Dehli

India’s COVID-19 case tally is now above 1.40 crore with 2,00,739 new cases reported as per the health ministry’s April 15 update. New cases today recorded the highest ever single day spike, cases continuing above the 1.5 lakh mark for the 5th consecutive day.

April 15 Daily New Cases and Moving Avg

India reported 1,038 new deaths (highest in 2021) and 93,528 new recoveries in the last 24 hours, the latest release shows. More than 11.44 crore vaccinations have been administered across India, according to the April 15 update, with 33,13,848 new vaccinations reported in a day.

Of the total vaccinations administered till date, 87 percent are recipients of their first dose while 13 percent have received the second dose. Among states, Maharashtra has administered the most nearly 11.1 million vaccine doses, followed by Rajasthan (10.2 million) and Gujarat (9.9 million).

India now has 14,71,877 active cases, with an increase of 1,06,173 cases in 24 hours as per the April 15 update. Maharashtra now reports the most (6,13,635 or 42 percent) active cases in the country, followed by Chhattisgarh (1,18,636) and Uttar Pradesh (1,11,835).

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show